Five Questions For . . . Tom Bloxham

Tom Bloxham will be appearing at the Tony Wilson Experience on Saturday

Urban Splash chairman and co-founder Tom Bloxham MBE has just been elected chancellor of the University Of Manchester. He also appears at the Tony Wilson Experience tomorrow (details below).

What does the chancellor do?It’s largely a ceremonial role and you chair the council of the university. Bill Bryson said when he was elected at Durham that a chancellor is like a bidet: everyone wants one but no one’s quite sure what they’re for. I assume I’ll get a special frock because whenever I’ve seen chancellors they’ve always been dressed rather bizarrely.

You’re also chair of the Arts Council North West and Manchester International Festival board, and on the Capital Of Culture board. Do you enjoy collecting these roles?I enjoy doing the jobs, although I’m stepping down from the Arts Council at the end of this year. I think it’s time to let someone else have a go. I enjoy doing things where I feel I can make a difference. Art in the north-west has seen a huge renaissance in the past eight years, and it’s hard to remember how poorly it was thought of.

Do people ever corner you at the bar and complain about dodgy plumbing in their Urban Splash flat?I’m very pleased to say that’s never happened to me. One of the nicest things that’s ever happened is a guy came up to me, shook my hand and said: ‘I want to thank you for what you’ve done in Manchester.’ I asked who he was and he said: ‘I’m nobody, I’m Joe Public, I just wanted to thank you.’ Then he walked away.

Does Urban Splash get copied?Of course. They’re called Urban this and Urban that and they copy all sorts of things we do. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I see it as flattery and also we don’t want to copy what we’ve already done. We don’t want to do another Smithfield Building. The problem with trying to jump on a bandwagon is that it might run you over. We want to be driving the bandwagon.

Where do you live?I live in Castlefield, in one of my buildings. Do I have the best flat? I couldn’t possibly comment.